Method of manufacturing a reinforced flexible laminate sealing strip

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a laminate flexible strip for attachment to a vehicle in the form of a weather sealing strip. The strip includes a core member and a filler layer of elastomeric seal material disposed about and into the voids of the core member. The core member is formed by bending a wire into an undulating pattern that forms a number of continuously connected longitudinally spaced and laterally extending unshaped metal clamping clips for reinforcing the seal material. A number of continuous laterally spaced and longitudinally extending linear fibers are attached to the clips to maintain the spatial relationship between the bent wire members. While the fibers or laminate maintain the longitudinal spacing of the wires, they also allow the core to flex laterally and compress longitudinally in the finished extrusion. The fibers may be made of the same material as or a material dissimilar to the clips.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a divisional of Ser. No. 10/075788, filedFeb. 13, 2002.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

[0002] The instant invention relates to reinforced sealing materials.More particularly the present invention relates to a reinforced laminatesealing strip and a method of manufacturing such a sealing strip typethat is commonly utilized in sealing the edges of various parts of anautomobile in mated fashion to one another.

[0003] For example, glass windows need to be sealed when incommunication with the door frame. Most automotive doors have a bodyenvelope that is created by two door panels, an inner and an outer whichare generally in parallel spaced-apart relation to one another. Anextendable pane of window glass is nested in the parallel openingbetween the door panels. In addition, a window regulator is provided forselectively moving the glass pane in and out of the door envelope toopen and close the window opening of the door. In many vehicles, thevehicle door includes a door window frame extending from the top of thedoor panels and extending over the top of the window opening forenclosing the window. This door window frame has a seal, typicallycalled weather stripping, which is installed into the door window frameto seal the perimeter edges of the window glass when the window glass isin its uppermost position.

[0004] Additionally, a weather stripping seal of similar construction isemployed in other locations around the vehicle where a weather tightseal is required between an operable component of the vehicle and thevehicle body such as the trunk lid and the doors. In these locations,generally a metal fin is formed as part of the vehicle body panelsaround the perimeter of these openings. The sealing material iscompressed between the body panels and the operable component to form aweather tight seal when the component is in a closed position.

[0005] A typical weather sealing strip has a U-shaped retention portionthat contains a reinforcing carrier and is installed over an edge of thesheet metal of the door window frame or other body opening thatsurrounds the perimeter of the opening. Connected with the retentionportion is a portion of the weather stripping referred to as the sealingmember or the glass seal. The sealing member is typically shaped as aninverted U-shaped section with respect to the retention portion or acompressible bulbous section and is laterally joined thereto. The glassseal typically has flocked wings, which seal against the side of theglass when the glass is in the closed position and inserted within the Ushape of the glass seal. The bulbous type profile is typicallycompressed against the operable component when the component is in aclosed position.

[0006] The carrier is typically reinforced by a roll formed or stampedthin metal member. Typical materials utilized for the carrierreinforcement are cold rolled steel, stainless steel or aluminum. Afterthe carrier is formed, it is passed through an extruder and covered witha polymeric material, typically an elastomeric material such as rubber.The interior of the retention portion may or may not have formed barbsto assist the weather stripping in retaining itself to the sheet metalof the door once it is pushed over the edge of the sheet metal.

[0007] In most vehicles however, the openings around the windows anddoors do not have edges that are square or parallel to opposing edgedthereto and the corners are typically radiused. For example, the lateraledge of a front door window frame at the front end is inclined due tothe inclination of the automobile's “A” pillar. The door window frame,generally rearward of the “A” pillar, curves into a second horizontallinear section called the header which usually runs longitudinal withthe vehicle. A third linear section of the door window frame is orientedgenerally vertically and is usually conformed to the shape of the “B”pillar. Between the “A” pillar and the top of the door window frame, isa first curved section. Between the top of the door window frame and the“B” pillar portion of the window opening is a second curved section.Most carrier materials, which are formed using thin metal reinforcement,are not flexible enough to bend to conform to the small radiuses of thecurves of the door window frame. Therefore, in these applications, afirst length of weather stripping is utilized to seal the first linearsection of the window. A second length of weather stripping is used toseal the second linear section of the window, and a third length ofweather stripping was utilized to seal the third linear section.

[0008] Many known door windows require an additional molded jointcomponent to be installed between two linear sections to seal the curvedsections. The molded joint however has a dissimilar cross-section thanthat of the adjoining linear sections. Another method used to seal theradius sections is to notch the carrier to allow it to fold and thenmold a polymeric patch into the notched area. The prior sealing systemseither do not provide a constant sectioned extrusion through the cornersand therefore lack firm retention to a seal-mounting flange of the doorwindow frame at these locations, or are limited to relatively largeradiuses, which would otherwise cause seal wrinkling or buckling. Lackof retention to the seal to the mounting flange or wrinkling or bucklingof the seal degrades the integrity of the seal. Also, without additionaloperations, many molded corners lack the low friction areas between thewindow glass and seal. The lack of low friction causes squeaks andmandates that higher window regulator forces be utilized to ensureclosure of the window.

[0009] While in most instances, the metal used as the carrier within theextruded seal, such as stamped metal reinforcing, is not flexible enoughto corner through the small radius required. Most carrier material, thatis flexible enough to corner through the small radius, does not have thetensile strength required to process the carrier material through theroll forming mill or the polymer injection molding and/or extrudingprocesses. Prior art attempts to overcome these difficulties include thereplacement of the stamped or rolled metal reinforcing carrier with anundulating knitted wire material. Since the undulating wire has littletensile strength, the knitted or woven fabric material is added betweeneach pass of the wire to provide longitudinal stability and maintain thespacing of the wires as the carrier is subjected to the extrusionprocess. In these instances, the equipment required to weave the fabriccarriers with the wire strand is expensive and requires a high degree ofcalibration and maintenance thus increasing the cost and manufacturingtime required to produce the reinforcing material. In addition, thereinforcing carriers are generally produced by one manufacturer andsupplied to another manufacturer as raw material for further extrusionand incorporation into a finished weather stripping product.

[0010] Finally, in all of the prior art weather stripping materials, thereinforcing carrier material is directly crosshead extruded into thefinished product. While this process proves to be expedient from amanufacturing standpoint, the finished product tends to have ribbedpattern that appears in the surface of the finished extrusioncorresponding to the locations of the reinforcing members. Thisappearance is referred to as the “hungry horse” and is aestheticallyunattractive and, therefore, not considered desirable in the weatherstripping industry.

[0011] It is therefore desirable to provide a process that provides areinforcing web that can be employed as raw material for furtherextruding weather stripping. It is a further object of the presentinvention to provide a reinforcing carrier that maintains longitudinalstability during the fabrication process while allowing the requiredflexibility required in the finished product. It is another object ofthe present invention to provide a reinforcing carrier that can beincorporated into a weather stripping extrusion that minimizes oreliminates the “hungry horse” appearance.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0012] In this regard, the present invention provides a laminateflexible strip for attachment to a vehicle in the form of a weatherstripping gasket. The strip includes a core member and a cover layer ofelastomeric material disposed about the core member. The core memberincludes a bent wire in an undulating pattern that forms a plurality ofcontinuously connected longitudinally spaced and laterally extendingU-shaped metal clamping clips for reinforcing the seal material and aplurality of continuous laterally spaced and longitudinally extendinglinear fibers connected to the clips to maintain the spatialrelationship between the bent wire members. While the fibers maintainthe longitudinal spacing of the wires, they also allow the core to flexlaterally and compress longitudinally in the finished extrusion. Thefibers may be made of the same material as or a material dissimilar tothe clips.

[0013] The clips are evenly spaced and alternately attached to oneanother on the right and left sides in linear sequence and includeapertures formed between the parallel clip members in a continuouslyconnected pattern. This undulating pattern is preferably formed of wirethat is bent using a wire-bending machine. The continuously connectedclips are simply laid onto the fibers, or other longitudinal carriermaterial, and may be secured by an adhesive potting laminate, athermosetting resin or by welding as the fiber material indicates. Afiller material is filled in the apertures to create a ribbon thatpresents a smooth, continuous outer surface. In other words, the fillermaterial is disposed in the apertures between the clips to eliminate the“hungry horse” effect when the ribbon of the present invention isincorporated into a finished weather stripping gasket in furtherextrusion processes.

[0014] Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shallbecome apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered inconnection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] In the drawings which illustrate the best mode presentlycontemplated for carrying out the present invention:

[0016]FIG. 1 is a partially cut away perspective view of the reinforcedflexible laminate strip of the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 2 is a partially cut away perspective view of the reinforcedflexible laminate strip of FIG. 1 with an extruded covering;

[0018]FIG. 3 is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of thereinforcing wire employed in the strip of FIG. 1;

[0019]FIG. 4 is a plan view of an alternate embodiment of thereinforcing wire employed in the strip of FIG. 1;

[0020]FIG. 5 is a plan view of a second alternate embodiment of thereinforcing wire employed in the strip of FIG. 1;

[0021]FIG. 6 is a plan view of a third alternate embodiment of thereinforcing wire employed in the strip of FIG. 1;

[0022]FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional view through the line 7-7 of FIG. 2showing a wire of a circular cross-section;

[0023]FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view through the line 7-7 of FIG. 2showing a wire of a polygonal cross-section;

[0024]FIG. 7C is a cross-sectional view through the line 7-7 of FIG. 2showing a wire of an oval cross-section;

[0025]FIG. 8 is a plan view of the reinforcing wire employed in thestrip of the present invention of FIG. 1 showing the preferredembodiment of the longitudinal reinforcing material;

[0026]FIG. 9 is a plan view of the reinforcing wire of the presentinvention showing an alternative embodiment of the longitudinalreinforcing material;

[0027]FIG. 10 is a plan view of the reinforcing wire of the presentinvention showing a second alternative embodiment of the longitudinalreinforcing material;

[0028]FIG. 11 is a plan view of the reinforcing wire of the presentinvention showing a third alternative embodiment of the longitudinalreinforcing material; and

[0029]FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the reinforced laminate strip ofthe present invention incorporated into a finished weather strippinggasket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Referring now to the drawings, the reinforced flexible laminatestrip of the instant invention and the various features thereof areillustrated in FIGS. 1-12. Turning to FIG. 1 the flexible laminate strip10, formed in accordance with the present invention, is shown. Thelaminate strip 10 has a continuous reinforcing wire 12. The wire 12 isformed into an undulating looped pattern that extends along the lengthof the strip 10. When the wire 12 pattern reaches the end of one pass atthe edge of the strip 10, the wire 12 is bent forming a series ofalternately opposing U-shaped retaining clips 14 running in a regularlyspaced pattern throughout the strip 10. The wire 12 is bent into theundulating looped pattern using a wire bending machine (not shown) wherethe wire 12 is fed into the machine as straight stock and the bendingmachine bends the wire 12 into the desired configuration to form theretaining clips 14.

[0031] At least one longitudinal reinforcing strand 16 is attached tothe looped passes of the reinforcing wire 12 using an adhesive materialsuch as an epoxy potting compound or other suitable adhesive known inthe art. Alternatively, a woven or non-woven laminate, as shown in FIG.9, may be employed instead of the strands. However, more than onereinforcing strand 16 is preferably used. The longitudinal reinforcingstrands 16 or laminate are used to maintain the even spatialrelationship between each of the wire 12 passes. Since subsequentmanufacturing steps may include drawing the reinforcing wire 12 throughan extrusion process, the longitudinal reinforcing strands 16 serve tomaintain a uniform spacing of the retaining clips 14. The addition ofthe reinforcing strands 16 are an important improvement over the priorart in that as described above, no highly calibrated weaving machinesare required to apply the longitudinal reinforcing strands 16 to thereinforcing wire 12.

[0032] The longitudinal strands 16, in the preferred embodiment, arepreferably made of fiberglass although the material may also be anelastomeric material, EPDM rubber or a plastic film, woven laminate,non-woven laminate or knitted laminate material that can be effectivelyapplied to the looped reinforcing wire 12. In some configurations, forexample, no filament reinforcement 16 is required. The longitudinalstrands 16 serve to transfer the tension of the extrusion process in auniform linear fashion to each pass of the looped wire 12 to prevent thelooped wire 12 from being bent or distorted thereby maintaining auniform pattern of retaining clips 14 within the extruded strip 10. Thepresent invention includes the use of at least one longitudinal strand16 but may include a number of longitudinal strands 16 in variousconfigurations across the width of the looped wire 12 pattern. Thearrangement of the longitudinal strands 16 across the width of thelooped wire 12 pattern is determined by the final application for whichthe strip 10 is to be used. In applications where the longitudinalforces applied during the extrusion process are great, a larger numberof longitudinal strands 16 are applied to the looped wire 12 to resistand evenly distribute the extrusion forces. In addition, placement oflongitudinal strands near the edges of the looped wire 12 pattern areadjusted based on the desired bending properties of the finished strip10 as will be discussed below.

[0033] Once the longitudinal reinforcing strands 16 are applied to thelooped wire 12, the assembly is drawn through an extruder to apply afiller material 18. As shown in FIG. 1, the filler material 18 isapplied over both the looped wire 12 and the reinforcing strand 16 tofill in the voids 20 between each lateral pass of the looped wire 12. Inthis manner, a laminate strip 10 is formed that has a smooth outersurface appearance that reduces the telegraphed appearance of the loopedwire 12 on the surface of the filler material 18. This appearance, knownin the art as the “hungry horse”, is when the looped wire 12 containedin the strip 10 stresses the surface of the filler 18 causing it to havea ribbed appearance. The filler material 18 is selected to be compatiblewith the material used in the finished application. Preferably, thefiller material 18 is an EPDM rubber but may also be other elastomericrubbers, thermoplastic, high durometer rubber, laminated rubber orcombinations thereof. At this point in the process, the strip 10 of thepresent invention is sufficiently completed and may be offered to othermanufacturers as raw material component substrate. Additionally, thestrip 10 can be further processed as shown in FIG. 1a by furtherextruding an outer covering 19 onto the strip 10 of the presentinvention for incorporation into other forms of weather strippingmaterial.

[0034] For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the strip 10 can be furtherextruded to add an integral sealing element. Before furtherincorporating the strip 10 into a weather stripping product, the strip10 of the present invention is normally bent using a roll-forming deviceinto a U-shaped profile. By bending the strip 10 in this fashion, theends of the retaining clips 14 are in an opposed relationship enablingthe strip 10 to be used as weather stripping material by pressing thestrip 10 onto the sheet metal edge (not shown) around a vehicle window,door or trunk opening. The retaining clips 14 exert a spring-biasedforce inwardly against the sheet metal edge thus retaining the weatherstripping in place after installation.

[0035] Turning to FIGS. 3-6, various configurations of loopedreinforcement wire 12 placement are shown for use in the strip 10 asshown in FIG. 1 of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a bent wirepattern 22 having symmetrical wire loops. The placement provides forclip loops 24 that are equal in dimension along both edges of the strip10. Because the loop pattern 22 is symmetrical, spaces 26 are providedalong each side of the strip 10 equal in width to the clip loops 24.This allows for a finished product that can be flexed equally well ineither an inside or outside curve.

[0036] Turning to FIG. 4, a wire pattern 28 of looped reinforcement wire12 is shown where the clip loops 30 are bent into a taperedconfiguration. Because the clip loops 30 are very small and have largespaces 32 between them, the finished strip is permitted to be bent in avery tight radius before the clip loops 30 contact one another. FIG. 5shows yet another embodiment of a wire pattern 34 for looped reinforcingwire 12, in accordance with the present invention, having smaller wireloops 36 on one side and larger wire loops 38 on the other side ofundulating wire 12. This wire pattern 34 allows the finished strip 10 tohave improved bending in the direction of the smaller loops 36 withgreater rigidity in the direction of the larger loops 38. The wirepattern 40 shown in FIG. 6 has flared clip loops 42 that allow the strip10 to bend while providing broad contact of the clip loops 42 with thesubstrate (not shown) to provide improved torsional rigidity for theweather stripping when installed. Thus, the structural pattern of wire12 can be configured to meet the structural needs of the environmentinto which the strip 10 is installed.

[0037]FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C show the various possible cross sections forthe reinforcement wire 12. The reinforcement wire 12 preferably has around cross-section 23 as shown in FIG. 7A. Also, the reinforcing wire12 may also have a polygonal cross-section 25, such as square orrectangular, as shown in FIG. 7B. Further, the wire 12 may also have anoval cross-section 27, as shown FIG. 7C. Other cross-sectionalconfigurations may be employed to suit the application and environmentat hand.

[0038] FIGS. 8-11 show various configurations for placement of thelongitudinal reinforcing strands 16. FIG. 8 shows the preferredplacement of the longitudinal reinforcing strands 16. The preferredmaterial for the strands 16 is a fiberglass yarn. At each point wherethe strand 16 intersects the looped wire 12 it is fastened with asuitable adhesive. This configuration allows the looped wire 12 to bedrawn through an extrusion process without deformation or bending of theuniform spacing of the loops 44 formed in looped wire 12. Depending onthe final application for strip 10, the number of reinforcing strands 16used is varied. In some applications where the longitudinal stresses ofthe subsequent extrusion process are low, no reinforcing strand 16 needbe applied to looped wire 12. As the longitudinal stresses of theextrusion process increase, additional reinforcing strands 16 areapplied to looped wire 12 to increase the ability of the assembly oflooped wire 12 and reinforcing strands 16 to resist longitudinaldeformation. This can also be accomplished with a laminate material.Further, where reinforcing strands 16 are placed near the edges of thelooped wire 12 the finished strip 10 becomes restrained againstlongitudinal extension and therefore has greater dimensional stability.The extent to which the final application requires restraining thefinished strip 10 to preserve dimensional stability is used to determinethe number and placement of longitudinal reinforcing strands 16 acrossthe width of the looped wire 12 pattern.

[0039]FIG. 9 shows an alternative material for use as a longitudinalreinforcing strand 16. Strips of laminate material 46, 48 and 50 may beapplied onto the looped wire 12 either using adhesive or other bondingmethods. These strips 46, 48 and 50 may all be of the same material ormay each be of a different material depending on the desiredcharacteristics of the finished strip 10. The materials used areselected from elastomers, rubbers or thermoplastics. Further, strips 46,48 and 50 may be woven laminate, non-woven laminate or knitted laminateto suit the application at hand. As an example, the center strip 48 maybe a rigid thermoplastic imparting a rigidity to the finished strip 10in the up and down bending axis while one side strip 46 may be a lowdurometer EPDM material and the other side strip 50 may be a harder highdurometer rubber to provide for a directional bending strip 10 that ismore flexible in one direction than in the other.

[0040] Further, FIG. 10 illustrates the use of laminate strips 52 incombination with fiberglass yarns 54 where the fiberglass yarns 54 areimbedded within the laminate strip 52 material. Finally, FIG. 11illustrates the use of longitudinal strips 56 and 58 to provide improvedmasking of the “hungry horse” effect. A wider longitudinal strip 58 is,for example, applied toward the outside of the finished product.

[0041]FIG. 12 illustrates the strip 10 of the present invention bentinto a U-shaped profile, as described above. The strip 10 has the loopedreinforcement wire 12 with longitudinal reinforcement strands 16attached to the wire 12. Retaining clips 14 are bent into a downwardposition creating a channel 60 to receive the sheet metal edge of anautomobile door, window or trunk opening (not shown) therein. Further, afiller material 18 is shown extruded over the wire 12 and longitudinalreinforcement 16 and into the voids 20 between the looped wire 12 and asealing element 62 is shown attached to one leg of the bent strip 10.The sealing element 62 is bulbous in shape and is generallycompressible. When the door, window or trunk lid is in a closedposition, the sealing element 62 is compressed forming an effectiveseal. The strip 10 portion of the present invention effectively retainsthe sealing element 62 in the required operative position. The fillermaterial 18 used in the present invention is selected to be compatiblewith the material that is used to form the sealing element 62 so thatthe overall product has a uniform finished appearance.

[0042] The present invention represents an improvement over the priorart in that the looped reinforcing wire 12 and the non-wovenlongitudinal carrier strands 16 combine to produce a laminate striphaving reduced raw material weight and an improved flexibility. Theprior art carriers that employed stamped or expanded metal require amuch higher percentage by weight of raw metal to produce the desiredproduct. This results in a higher cost for production. Additionally,these metal sections are much less flexible than the present invention.Further, the prior art designs that employ knitted strand carrierscannot produce bent wire patterns where each pass of the wire isstraight and parallel to the previous pass. As a result, the wirereinforcing pattern in these cases is not symmetrical and balanced,therefore, imparting uneven bending properties to the finished product.

[0043] It can therefore be seen that the instant invention provides anovel weather stripping retention strip 10 having improved flexibilityand provides for reduced cost in manufacturing. Since the loopedreinforcing wire 12 has a uniform even pattern that is maintainedthroughout the entire process, the finished strip 10 has an improvedconsistency when bending. In addition, since the wire 12 is moreflexible than the stamped or expanded metal carriers used previously,the finished strip 10 has improved bending characteristics.

[0044] While there is shown and described herein certain specificstructure embodying the invention, it will be manifest to those skilledin the art that various modifications and rearrangements of the partsmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theunderlying inventive concept and that the same is not limited to theparticular forms herein shown and described except insofar as indicatedby the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method of forming a reinforced flexible laminate strip having astrip length, comprising: providing a continuous strand of wire; bendingsaid continuous strand of wire transversely back and forth across thewidth of said strip in a plurality of adjacent passes to form aplurality of uniformly spaced interconnected metal reinforcement clipseach having a longitudinally running center line, a first leg, a bendand second leg, wherein said second leg of each pass also forms saidfirst leg of the clip formed in the next pass, said adjacent passes ofwire having voids located there between, said interconnected metalreinforcement clips extending the strip length; at least one region ofthe flexible laminate strip defining at least one visible portionthrough which an at least one exposed portion of the continuous strandof wire passes; and attaching at least one longitudinal carrier membersubstantially transversely to said adjacent passes of wire therebymaintaining said spacing of said reinforcement clips; said at least onecarrier member running along said strip length.
 2. The method of forminga reinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1, furthercomprising: filling the voids with a filler material to form flexiblelaminate strip.
 3. The method of forming a reinforced flexible laminatestrip assembly of claim 2, further comprising: extruding a sealingelement adjacent and connected to said filler layer.
 4. The method offorming a reinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1,further comprising: bending said uniform strip into a U-shaped profilehaving two legs.
 5. The method of forming a reinforced flexible laminatestrip assembly of claim 1, further comprising: connecting said sealingelement to one of said two legs of said U-shaped profile.
 6. The methodof forming a reinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1,wherein said step of attaching at least one longitudinal carrier furthercomprises the step of: attaching a plurality of longitudinal carriers ofthe same longitudinal carrier material.
 7. The method of forming areinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1, wherein saidstep of attaching at least one longitudinal carrier further comprisesthe step of: attaching a plurality of longitudinal carriers of differentlongitudinal carrier materials.
 8. The method of forming a reinforcedflexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1, wherein the longitudinalcarrier material is selected from the group consisting of: elastomericrubber, thermoplastic, high durometer rubber, fiberglass strand,laminated rubber, woven laminate, non-woven laminate, knitted laminateand combinations thereof.
 9. The method of forming a reinforced flexiblelaminate strip assembly of claim 1, wherein said first and second legsof said clips are substantially parallel along the entire strip length.10. The method of forming a reinforced flexible laminate strip assemblyof claim 1, wherein said first and second legs of said clips form aV-shaped junction at the bend.
 11. The method of forming a reinforcedflexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1, wherein said continuousstrand of wire has a circular cross-sectional shape.
 12. The method offorming a reinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1,wherein said continuous strand of wire has a polygonal cross-sectionalshape.
 13. The method of forming a reinforced flexible laminate stripassembly of claim 1, wherein said continuous strand of wire has an ovalcross-sectional shape.
 14. The method of forming a reinforced flexiblelaminate strip assembly of claim 1, further comprising the step of:extruding a cover layer around the strand wire, the at least one carriermember and the filler material.
 15. The method of forming a reinforcedflexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1, further comprising the stepof: adhering at least one mask layer onto the at least one exposedportion of the continuous strand of wire.
 16. The method of forming areinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 15, the wherein theat least one mask layer is selected from the group consisting of: elastomeric rubber, thermoplastic, high durometer rubber, fiberglassstrand, laminated rubber, woven laminate, non-woven laminate and knittedlaminate and combinations thereof.
 17. The method of forming areinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 1, furthercomprising the step of: adhering the at least one mask layer to the atleast one exposed portion of the continuous strand of wire along theentire length of the laminate strip.
 18. The method of forming areinforced flexible laminate strip assembly of claim 15, wherein the atleast one mask layer is two separate layers spaced apart from oneanother and respectively adhered to two exposed portions of thecontinuous strand of wire.
 19. The method of forming a reinforcedflexible laminate strip assembly of claim 15, wherein the at least onemask layer is three separate layers spaced from one another andrespectively adhered to three exposed portions of the continuous strandof wire.
 20. The method of forming a reinforced flexible laminate stripassembly of claim 1, wherein the step of bending the continuous strandof wire is bending the continuous strand of wire transversely back andforth across the strip width with the wire being asymmetrical about thelongitudinally running center line.